Small town help near Chicago (Aurora, Joliet: relocate, employment, new home)

[sea2006]

Hi, I have been researching places to relocate in IL, within about 1 hour from Chicago/southwestern suburbs.
We currently live in a very small Michigan town of about 3500 people. An average, 1600 sq. foot, 3BR 2BA, newly built home here goes for about 180,000-200,000. I would like to find a place w/ a population of under 20,000, with good schools, a low crime rate, and decent housing. (w/ an average housing price of about 200,000) In our current neighborhood, I can let my 7 year old play outside w/o fear of danger. He is very active in sports, so a good community recreation program would be nice.
Having a Metra station would be a big plus, as would being close to I-80, I-55, or I-294.
I'm afraid this is a tall order, and I'm getting swamped by statistical data. I would love some personal reveiws of any towns/cities that are close to what I'm describing.
Thank you!

[Sideblinded]

You may want to look at Sycamore, IL. I don't know anything about their school district.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Sycamore-Illinois.html

[Jons99]

Herscher, IL, population of about 2000 and located in Kankakee County.. Very good schools, great little small town thats located 20 minutes from Kankakee and 35 minutes from Joliet, nice town that will remain small.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by sea2006

Hi, I have been researching places to relocate in IL, within about 1 hour from Chicago/southwestern suburbs.
We currently live in a very small Michigan town of about 3500 people. An average, 1600 sq. foot, 3BR 2BA, newly built home here goes for about 180,000-200,000. I would like to find a place w/ a population of under 20,000, with good schools, a low crime rate, and decent housing. (w/ an average housing price of about 200,000) In our current neighborhood, I can let my 7 year old play outside w/o fear of danger. He is very active in sports, so a good community recreation program would be nice.
Having a Metra station would be a big plus, as would being close to I-80, I-55, or I-294.
I'm afraid this is a tall order, and I'm getting swamped by statistical data. I would love some personal reveiws of any towns/cities that are close to what I'm describing.
Thank you!

Id also recommend Sycamore. The schools arent the greatest, but arent the worst either. Its everything youd expect from a small midwestern town. Youd also only be 20 minutes from the far western suburbs of St. Charles, Geneva, etc. Nice area!

[rstravis]

It's more south than southwest, but I lived in Manteno for a year, and found it to be quite nice. It is a friendly town, and very family-oriented. It is also known for being the safest community in Kankakee County. It is right on I-57, about 25 minutes or so south of I-80.

A lot of people choose Manteno, as well as Bradley and Bourbonnais, because they are not too far out of the city (1 hour drive to downtown), but they are quite a bit less expensive to live in than the city or suburbs. The only beef I had with it is the flat land and lack of trees. I, too, come from Michigan, and since moving to Illinois, I have noticed that forested areas pretty much don't exist south of Peotone (another nice, small town north of Manteno on I-57).

Good luck with the move!

[xxJoyfulxx]

My recommendations would be Yorkville, IL (60156), Newark, IL (60541). I grew up in both towns and they are great when it comes to community and small towns. Newark especially. Population is REAL small though (about 800-900) but I went to school there and I loved it. Small classes, great teachers, etc.
And the town is nice, everyone is super friendly and they do tons of town activities for holidays, etc. It's a farm town but it's not that far from larger towns either.
It's about a 30 min commute TO I-55 though and about 20 min to I-80 and about 40 min to I-88. Closest large town is Aurora.

Yorkville is 9 miles away from Newark and it has about 6K population with still good (growing!) schools. I went to grade school and junior high here and it was nice too. (but that was a while ago). There are plenty more stores, restaurants, etc here than Newark. (newark has 1 gas station and a bank. ha)

Just my opinion. Oh and you can get the housing you are looking for for $200K easily in Newark and Yorkville also (yorkville being slightly more expensive.)

[HOWELL_STREET]

Dear Friends:

The tri-cities of DeKalb, Sycamore and Cortland, IL would be a very nice area to live. My son owns a house in Cortland. Cortland is smaller than the other two because it is a small farming town with a number of new subdivisions. It is a very nice place to raise a family. However, searching for local employment may be difficult.
For an interesting perspective, visit "www.cortlandil.org" and look at their subdivision pictures.
IF you have to be employed close to the city of Chicago, then the tri - cities are too far away - - being approximately 60 miles west of Chicago. There is railroad passenger service from Chicago to Elburn, IL. However the passenger service terminates in Elburn even though the freight service continues west. That RR system is part of the "METRA" system but known as the "Union Pacific West Line".
One can buy a nice / new home in Cortland starting around $150K (cheapest). But as always, there are extra hidden costs that boost up the price.

Best Regards,

Carter Glass

[brianhoots]

The kankakee county area (bradley 60915, bourbonnais 60914, manteno 60950)is growing and is a good place to raise a family. About an hour to downtown chicago and 25minutes to metra station.